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

The Spindlers: A plucky heroine and a plucky rat

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver

I can’t say that Lauren Oliver’s The Spindlers is a particularly memorable middle-grade novel, but its combination of familiar plucky heroine and unusually plucky rat, echoes of The Borrowers, and a few moments of inspired originality made it a consistently enjoyable one.

When Liza’s younger brother Patrick begins acting strangely one morning (one clue is his lack of sticking his tongue out at Liza), she realizes his soul has been taken by the Spindlers, evil spidery creatures that can change size and that have heads at the end of each of their eight legs.

Untimed: Like science class in Las Vegas

Untimed by Andy Gavin

Charlie Horologe’s mother can’t remember his name. People often forget him seconds after they’ve seen him. When he scores the highest in the high jump on the track and field team, they give the medal to the kid who came in second. The only people who seem to remember him consistently are his dad and his aunt Sophie, who travel together for their work and only show up about twice a year, usually with an armload of history books for Charlie and a quiz on the contents.

This is the opening of Andy Gavin’s YA time-travel fantasy Untimed.

Every House is Haunted: Rogers’ debut collection

Every House is Haunted by Ian Rogers

Ian Rogers must love Shirley Jackson, for his stories are often like hers, gentle on the surface, but with a knife thrust from below. In Every House is Haunted, his debut collection, Rogers writes about haunted houses, yes, but more often about haunted people, or shadows of people. Rogers sometimes has trouble finding appropriate endings, but his stories are always engaging.

The collection is divided into sections named for rooms in a house: the vestibule,

The Folly of the World: Bullington’s best work to date

The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington

In a flooded 15th century Holland there are very few opportunities available. Jan may have an amazing opportunity at a life full of riches, but it’s hidden somewhere at the bottom of a flooded town. To reach his greedy goal in the dark moldy depths, Jan enlists the help of a wild young girl with a knack for swimming. Add Jan’s slightly psychotic but ever-faithful partner Sander to the mix and you have yourself a watery adventure with a cast to remember.

The Age of Miracles: Occasionally won me over

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

[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.]

The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker, one the surface seems one of a spate in recent years of the “end of days” books, with its premise of an Earth whose rotation suddenly starts to slow,

Apollo’s Outcasts: Pleasing young adult science fiction adventure

Apollo’s Outcasts by Allen Steele

Apollo’s Outcasts by Allen Steele is a pleasing science fiction adventure for young people, in the mold of Robert Heinlein’s YA work. It takes place on a near-future Earth and on the lunar colony, Apollo.

Jamey Barlowe was born on the moon but returned to Earth when he was an infant. Jamey’s bones never developed properly in the moon’s lower gravity. On Earth, he is crippled, needing crutches and an automated “mobil” to move about.

The Silence of Our Friends

The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos, Nate Powell

One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s most famous admonishments to all of us who lived in the Civil Rights era was that “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies… but the silence of our friends.” Mark Long’s graphic memoir, The Silence of Our Friends, reminds readers from that period, and surely opens eyes of those who were born long after the fiery 1960’s, that the loudest noise heard amidst the roaring flames of burning American cities,

November 23rd, 2012. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Jagannath: Stories: One of the best books of 2012

Jagannath: Stories by Karin Tidbeck

Strange. Disturbing. Unimaginable, but imagined. Weird. Karin Tidbeck’s first collection of short stories, Jagannath: Stories, can be so described, but one must also include compelling. It is not usual for me to want to read story after story in a single-author collection in a single sitting, but here each story was better than the last, and I stayed up long into the night reading. This Swedish author, who translated her own work into English, has an odd mind that produces odd stories,

Failure of Moonlight: A collection of Bast stories

Failure of Moonlight by Rosemary Edghill

Failure of Moonlight is a collection of three short stories, a novella, and a brief essay starring Bast, the snarky New York Wiccan protagonist of Rosemary Edghill’s BAST mystery series. All four of the fiction pieces have appeared elsewhere, but this is the first time they’ve been published together. Failure of Moonlight is only available currently as an e-book, costs about two dollars as I write this, and is well worth the price.

The Geomancer’s Compass: A charming Young Adult adventure

The Geomancer’s Compass by Melissa Hardy

Melissa Hardy’s YA fantasy novel, The Geomancer’s Compass, is a nice blend of Canadian history and Chinese mythology. The short book follows two inventive Chinese-Canadian cousins on a quest to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to recover something that is lost, and break the curse of bad luck that haunts their wealthy family.

Miranda Liu is a brilliant computer whiz and a bundle of nervous tics. At sixteen, she is on her way to making a name for herself in the world of computer generated Augmented Reality,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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