A Creature of Moonlight by Rebecca Hahn
Rebecca Hahn caught my interest one paragraph into her debut YA novel A Creature of Moonlight:
All summer long the villagers have been talking of the woods. Even those living many hills away can see it: their crops are disappearing; their land is shrinking by the day. We hear story after story. One evening a well will be standing untouched, a good twenty feet from the shade, and when the farmer’s daughter goes to draw water in the morning,
May 6th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Rebecca Hahn | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor (text), Michael Wyatt (illustrations), and Alison Kooistra (adaptation)
This graphic novel The Night Wanderer is an adaptation by Alison Kooistra of Drew Hayden Taylor’s novel The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel. Since it’s a vampire novel — a genre of which I’ve about had my fill — I almost passed it by. But I was very interested in the Native American angle. I’m glad I picked this up — the book is only using the vampire genre to tell a Native American tale and make us look at an all-too-familiar tale in a new light.
May 2nd, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Dreary and Naughty: Friday the 13th of February by John Lefleur & Shawn Dubin
I normally review comic books, so I want to be clear that Dreary and Naughty: Friday the 13th of February does not combine images and words in a series of narrative panels; instead, it is an illustrated book, an illustrated poem to be precise. Dreary and Naughty: Friday the 13th of February is an intentionally silly poem about two characters — Dreary and Naughty. The illustrations, however, transform the light tone of the poem into a touching story.
May 2nd, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tale of a Tail by Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy was one of New Zealand’s most beloved writers, the author of forty novels, over one hundred picture books, and a twice-winner of the Carnegie Medal. She passed away in 2012, and I’ll admit that I got a little tearful when I heard that there was still one last story of hers to be published posthumously.
As a final coda to Mahy’s prolific writing career, Tale of a Tail is a funny, magical little story about a boy called Tom who lives with his mother on Prodigy Street.
May 1st, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Margaret Mahy | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn
We know from the opening chapter of Ania Ahlborn’s The Bird Eater that something dangerous lives in Edie Holbrook’s house along with her and her 14-year-old nephew Aaron, for whom she is the sole caretaker. As she is working pizza dough in anticipation of a movie night with Aaron, Edie hears a triple thud in the living room. It’s only the latest in a series of oddities over the past few months: closed doors that she had left open,
April 28th, 2014. Terry Weyna´s rating: 2 | Ania Ahlborn | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction (writer) and Chip Zdarsky (artist)
Sex Criminals is not just as dirty as it sounds — it’s far more perverse than that. So, if you are even slightly likely to be offended by intentionally offensive material, then I’d stop reading right now. On the other hand, if offensive material becomes less offensive to you by the very fact that it IS intentional — as is the case here for me — then please read on: You just might find Sex Criminals does it for you.
April 25th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
Pillar to the Sky by William R. Forstchen
While reading William R. Forstchen’s Pillar to the Sky, I kept thinking this is what would have happened if, back in the 1960’s, NASA had commissioned Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein to co-write a story that would get Americans excited about space exploration… and then forgot to send it to an editor. Pillar to the Sky has an exciting premise and an appealing nostalgic feel, but it’s marred by some annoying editorial issues.
April 23rd, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | William R. Forstchen | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In 2010, I put Kate Milford’s The Boneshaker on my list of favorite books of the year. In 2012, I put her The Broken Lands on my list of favorite books of the year. Well, another two years have passed, Milford is out with another story, and, well, you know the rest . . .
Though maybe not all the rest, as there’s a bit of a twist to her newest work, Bluecrowne.
April 22nd, 2014. Bill Capossere | Kate Milford | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell
Expiration Day, by William Campbell Powell, was a book I almost didn’t bother finishing and only ended up doing so because of that added sense of obligation of having received it for free to review. Had I picked it up on my own, I almost certainly would have dropped it somewhere about halfway in. As usual, in these cases, this will be a relatively short review so as not to belabor the issue.
In 2049, humanity has all but died out and is racing to find a cure to this plague of infertility that has been around for some while now.
April 22nd, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5 | William Campbell Powell | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Revolutions by Felix Gilman
At not quite the halfway point in Felix Gilman’s The Revolutions, the main character — Arthur Shaw — reacts to a particular text he is reading:
It was a hodge-podge of Masonry, Greek myth, Egyptian fantasy, debased Christianity, third-hand Hinduism, and modern and ancient astronomy, promiscuously and nonsensically mixed . . . The Book was riddled throughout with paradox and absurdity and contradiction . . . But after a week or two of study, Arthur began to enjoy it.
April 16th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Felix Gilman | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 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…